Comparing ggplot, plotly and canvasXpress
Some tools used in data science
R, Python, Tableau, Spotfire, Power BI
This demo covers the R-based tools
R, R-Studio, Plotly and now CanvasXpress
Let’s start by including all the libraries for the demo
library(ggplot2)
library(plotly)
library(canvasXpress)Next, let’s use the mtcars data set as example a make a simple scatter plot in ggplot.
s <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(wt, mpg)) + geom_point()
s
Produces a nice and simple visualization. However, a user cannot interact with it.
Scatter plot with plotly
ggplotly(s)Mouse-over to show tooltip and mouse-over on-top of graph to show a toolbar with some functionality. Double-click to reset.
Scatter plot with canvasXpress
canvasXpress(s)Mouse-over to show tooltip, mouse-wheel to zoom in/out, mouse-drag to pan, click to select and mouse-over on-top of graph to show a toolbar with extensive functionality. Press “ESC” to reset.
Very small differences in the three graphs above
When you compare the three graphs above, you noticed that the main difference is in the toolbars. ggplot doesn’t have one but plotly and canvasXpress do.
This is a brief comparison of the toolbars in plotly and canvasxpress. There is some corresponding functionality in the toolbars of the two libraries. Items in red are unique to each library)
CanvasXpress has extensive functionality out-of-the-box without the need of extra coding
Click in the funnel icon to explore the data
Click in the table icon to see the data in a table
Click in the tools icon to customize the data
Value proposition
This demo shows just a very small set of the CanvasXpress functionality. I would be happy to show you a demo!
Other examples for you to play
Boxplot plot with ggplot
b <- ggplot(mpg, aes(class, hwy)) + geom_boxplot(notch = TRUE)
b## notch went outside hinges. Try setting notch=FALSE.
## notch went outside hinges. Try setting notch=FALSE.
Boxplot plot with plotly …. hmmmm I guess plotly cannot notch the boxplots
ggplotly(b)Boxplot plot with canvasXpress
canvasXpress(b)Smooth with ggplot
sm <- ggplot(mpg, aes(displ, hwy)) + geom_point(aes(color=drv)) + geom_smooth()
sm## `geom_smooth()` using method = 'loess' and formula 'y ~ x'
Smooth with plotly
ggplotly(sm)## `geom_smooth()` using method = 'loess' and formula 'y ~ x'Smooth with canvasXpress
canvasXpress(sm)Contour plot with ggplot
data(franke, package = "interp")
origdata <- as.data.frame(interp::franke.data(1, 1, franke))
grid <- with(origdata, interp::interp(x, y, z))
griddf <- subset(data.frame(x = rep(grid$x, nrow(grid$z)),
y = rep(grid$y, each = ncol(grid$z)),
z = as.numeric(grid$z)),
!is.na(z))
c <- ggplot(griddf, aes(x, y, z = z)) +
geom_contour_filled() +
geom_point(data = origdata)
c
Contour plot with plotly …… hmmmm It doesn’t work with plotly :-)
ggplotly(c)## Warning in geom2trace.default(dots[[1L]][[12L]], dots[[2L]][[1L]], dots[[3L]][[1L]]): geom_GeomContourFilled() has yet to be implemented in plotly.
## If you'd like to see this geom implemented,
## Please open an issue with your example code at
## https://github.com/ropensci/plotly/issues
## Warning in geom2trace.default(dots[[1L]][[12L]], dots[[2L]][[1L]], dots[[3L]][[1L]]): geom_GeomContourFilled() has yet to be implemented in plotly.
## If you'd like to see this geom implemented,
## Please open an issue with your example code at
## https://github.com/ropensci/plotly/issues
## Warning in geom2trace.default(dots[[1L]][[12L]], dots[[2L]][[1L]], dots[[3L]][[1L]]): geom_GeomContourFilled() has yet to be implemented in plotly.
## If you'd like to see this geom implemented,
## Please open an issue with your example code at
## https://github.com/ropensci/plotly/issues
## Warning in geom2trace.default(dots[[1L]][[12L]], dots[[2L]][[1L]], dots[[3L]][[1L]]): geom_GeomContourFilled() has yet to be implemented in plotly.
## If you'd like to see this geom implemented,
## Please open an issue with your example code at
## https://github.com/ropensci/plotly/issues
## Warning in geom2trace.default(dots[[1L]][[12L]], dots[[2L]][[1L]], dots[[3L]][[1L]]): geom_GeomContourFilled() has yet to be implemented in plotly.
## If you'd like to see this geom implemented,
## Please open an issue with your example code at
## https://github.com/ropensci/plotly/issues
## Warning in geom2trace.default(dots[[1L]][[12L]], dots[[2L]][[1L]], dots[[3L]][[1L]]): geom_GeomContourFilled() has yet to be implemented in plotly.
## If you'd like to see this geom implemented,
## Please open an issue with your example code at
## https://github.com/ropensci/plotly/issues
## Warning in geom2trace.default(dots[[1L]][[12L]], dots[[2L]][[1L]], dots[[3L]][[1L]]): geom_GeomContourFilled() has yet to be implemented in plotly.
## If you'd like to see this geom implemented,
## Please open an issue with your example code at
## https://github.com/ropensci/plotly/issues
## Warning in geom2trace.default(dots[[1L]][[12L]], dots[[2L]][[1L]], dots[[3L]][[1L]]): geom_GeomContourFilled() has yet to be implemented in plotly.
## If you'd like to see this geom implemented,
## Please open an issue with your example code at
## https://github.com/ropensci/plotly/issues
## Warning in geom2trace.default(dots[[1L]][[12L]], dots[[2L]][[1L]], dots[[3L]][[1L]]): geom_GeomContourFilled() has yet to be implemented in plotly.
## If you'd like to see this geom implemented,
## Please open an issue with your example code at
## https://github.com/ropensci/plotly/issues
## Warning in geom2trace.default(dots[[1L]][[12L]], dots[[2L]][[1L]], dots[[3L]][[1L]]): geom_GeomContourFilled() has yet to be implemented in plotly.
## If you'd like to see this geom implemented,
## Please open an issue with your example code at
## https://github.com/ropensci/plotly/issues
## Warning in geom2trace.default(dots[[1L]][[12L]], dots[[2L]][[1L]], dots[[3L]][[1L]]): geom_GeomContourFilled() has yet to be implemented in plotly.
## If you'd like to see this geom implemented,
## Please open an issue with your example code at
## https://github.com/ropensci/plotly/issues
## Warning in geom2trace.default(dots[[1L]][[12L]], dots[[2L]][[1L]], dots[[3L]][[1L]]): geom_GeomContourFilled() has yet to be implemented in plotly.
## If you'd like to see this geom implemented,
## Please open an issue with your example code at
## https://github.com/ropensci/plotly/issuesContour plot with canvasXpress
canvasXpress(c)Add a new chunk by clicking the Insert Chunk button on the toolbar or by pressing Cmd+Option+I.
When you save the notebook, an HTML file containing the code and output will be saved alongside it (click the Preview button or press Cmd+Shift+K to preview the HTML file).
The preview shows you a rendered HTML copy of the contents of the editor. Consequently, unlike Knit, Preview does not run any R code chunks. Instead, the output of the chunk when it was last run in the editor is displayed.